Paint the Skies with Acid Rain
by earth warrior
Summary: Rue and Thresh are thrown into the 74th annual Hunger Games, this time as teammates. But when Thresh makes a dangerous enemy and now has the Careers out for his blood and hers, how can they possibly get out of these Games alive? R/T Friendship
1. Chapter 1

_Follow the sun past the river and over the brambles, under the high metal fence. And once you see the orchards with their leaves reflecting the glittering light of dusk and the mockingjays that dance from tree to tree, then you are home… _

A small girl with honey gold eyes and olive skin converses with a bird in song, repeating each other's notes beautiful and clear in a round until you could never tell where one voice began and the other ended. She sits on a thin branch at the top of the tree, clutching a straw woven basket in one arm, the other picking fruits at random. The bird perches on her shoulder, watching intently. When Rue stands to move on, the bird flaps away with an indignant chirp, but he'll be back.

Being careful not to drop anything, she stands on the edge of a limb and gracefully leaps into the air. For a moment she can feel the hot wind in her face, fresh with the smell of pears mingled with sweat. Then she lands precariously on one foot with no where to latch her hand to. The exhilaration ends far too quickly, but that's alright with her. As Rue balances herself, she can't help but think she has one of the best jobs in the district. Flitting across the branches like a little mockingjay, singing the signal for the end of work. True, it is difficult, and she often gets heat exhaustion in the summer time when the Overseers won't let her down to get a drink. But she loves it anyway.

Working gives her the chance to keep her mind off other things anyway. Tomorrow will be her first reaping day. Despite her mother's pleads, she took the tesserae for herself, her three sisters, two brothers, and her mother. She had her name in the pot seven times, but assured herself that there were thousands of other kids in the district. She would never be chosen.

Noticing the weight of her basket for the first time, she looks down to see it filled to the brim. Time to have it emptied. She hops down to the lowest branch and hangs herself upside-down from it, keeping her legs locked around the branch. One of the workers spots her. It's a boy, nearly a man actually, with shaggy brown hair and a tall brawny build. He comes over and shoulders the heavy load from her, then dumps its contents into a larger bin. She watches him, waiting. Just as he walks back towards her, one of the Overseers comes by, toting a gun in one arm. Rue and the other boy are both holding their breaths in fear and anticipation of what the man may do. He stops in front of Rue, cruel eyes appraising her sullenly. She fumbles with a good morning, then remembers its afternoon and tries to correct herself, but only ends up stumbling over her own words.

Without warning, he reaches out, and yanks her from the tree by her hair. She topples to the ground head-first, barely managing to put her arms out to keep her from snapping her neck. Her vision spins and she hears the Overseer say "Get back to work," as he walks away. Rue eventually realizes she's breathing in dirt when her lungs begin to burn and she coughs. She sits up slowly, eyes watering, her head throbbing and seeing double. The boy and his newly acquired twin move into her line of sight, blocking the sun. They merge into one person and he hands her the empty basket.

"Better get going." He says. He turns on his heel and picks up his own bin, then continues back to work. She'd seen him many a time before now, but struggles to remember his name. She pushes herself up and scales the tree in a flash, still thinking. Oh gosh, what is his name? Uh, Thrush? Thresh? Wait, yes, Thresh. That's it. He was never one for talking so she didn't know him very well, but she'd seen him out in the fields every day for the past two years. He's strong- stronger than most grown men- but not very sociable and he doesn't appear to be all that bright either. However, an orchard worker doesn't have to know anything.

Back at her branch, she picks a few more pears, trying hard not to think about how hungry she is. Her mother has been sick for the past year and a half, so Rue has to work overtime to make enough money to keep them alive. She only comes to school half the time, which is a shame really because she does adore reading; it's just not very practical in her position. She takes care of her five siblings as much as she can, and many times that means going hungry so that they will not. But she'll live. Rue is a survivor, just like the mockingjays.

oOo

The next day, Rue picks out her prettiest outfit (aka her only pair of clean work clothes) and ties pieces of fabric in her wavy brown pigtails that are meant to look like ribbons. They don't. Her siblings beg her to let them come to the reaping with her, and for a second, she thinks she might let them. What could be the harm? But the Overseers are particularly strict on reaping day, and she doesn't want the little ones to accidentally provoke their wrath, as small children so easily do. So she simply shakes her head, gives them all huge hugs and says, "I will love you till the end of forever." She holds out her hands and links her thumbs together to look like a bird, and puts the bird to her chest.

The children do the motion back, the younger three sniffling and sobbing as they do so. "For now and for always," They respond like they always do. Rue smiles, and with one last look, is gone.

The reaping always takes place in the square. The eligable girls stand on the left side of the stage, while the boys are on the right. The man in charge of District 11's tributes, Hugo, trudges up the stairs, clearly wanting to be anywhere but here. He has thick glasses, and graying hair slicked back against his mostly bald head. Rue does envy his robin egg blue eyes though. He clears his throat. The crowd is silent. He clears his throat again, which confuses everyone till the fourth throat clearing, when by then it just irks them that he won't hurry up.

After the sixth one he finally manages to get out in a thick raspy smoker's voice, "Welcome to the reaping day of the 74th annual Hunger Games." No one claps. He pauses for a round of cleansing his throat. "This year, due to the upcoming Quarter Quell, we have decided to change the rules a bit. In these Games, the two players from each district will be competing as partners instead of separately." The crowd is instantly abuzz; no one is quite sure what to make of this. Neither is Rue. She supposes this would be good for the players, but it would also make things more difficult. How much harder would it be to kill two Careers with a lasting bond, then just two who would turn on each other at any second?

"Of course," Hugo continues once the Peacekeepers have forced the people into silence, "You can win without a partner if they are killed, but it would be more difficult." He makes his way over to a pink glass ball with a small door on the side just large enough to fit someone's arm in. Rolling his eyes Hugo picks up the ball and shakes it once, obviously obligated to mix up the papers but not willing to do it wholeheartedly. He reaches down deep to the very bottom and lifts out a little scrap of paper.

"Rue Birch."

Everyone within a five foot radius of Rue stares at her with a mix of sympathy and relief that makes her sick to her stomach. The girls, all of them her age or older, clear a pathway to the stage while she steps through the crowd silent as a ghost.

Inside, she is making a desperate attempt at suppressing panic. _No, no! This can't happen. My mother and siblings… they'll die without me! _her thoughts scream. Even her sibling closest to her age is only nine, and not old enough to work in the fields for another year. How will they possibly get by after she is… Rue won't even let herself dwell on the fact that she herself will surely die. No one honestly believes she has a chance, do they? She is only twelve, and a small twelve year old at that; too easy a target to pass up.

Rue feels her hands shaking and forces herself to calm down. There would be no point in becoming a crybaby all of a sudden no matter how dire the current circumstances. She climbs the steps, focusing on her every movement. Just put one foot in front of the other, don't trip, don't cry, show no emotion or forever regret it.

"Will anyone take her place?" Hugo is most certainly required to ask this because they all know what the answer will be. Sure the whole District loves Rue with her sweet disposition; how could they not? But that was forgotten completely the second her name was drawn from that glass ball. Hence, the question is met with silence.

Hugo clears his throat several more times- Rue is too tense to count how many- then he shuffles to an equal sized blue ball. After giving it a half-hearted attempt at a shake, he digs around till he comes up with another scrap.

"Thresh Rainer."

What? That suddenly perks her interest. Thresh, broad shouldered and bulky, now wandering up the steps, shrinking back at the sight of so many eyes fixed on him, is now her partner. He is her lifeline, and she just might be his as well. Thresh just glares back at the audience with a deadly sort of intensity that makes Rue recoil a step, but it's also a look that barely manages to mask the panicked, caged-animal fear in his eyes . None volunteer to replace the teen, and he expects this; he just can't help but hate everyone there, though for different reasons that one might think.

For starters, he can't stand being stared at like he were some sort of zoo animal. He wishes they could find someone else to watch. He doesn't want to be noticed, just to blend into the backdrop and escape their piercing gazes. _What about the fact that you're gonna be slaughtered? _He ponders it then decides it doesn't really matter. Besides, he won't go down without a fight and that's all that matters. No, Thresh isn't suicidal. Far from it, he has quite a will to live. But he just knows there's nothing he can do about that little dilemma for a while, so why bother? The true subject of his anger is one small gold eyed girl watching him from just a few feet away.

He knows Rue is hardly to blame for this; that anvil fell completely on the Capitol. However… _This sucks!, _he thinks. _It's bad enough I got dragged into these stupid Games, and even worse that it's a partner event which will make everyone twice as difficult to get rid of, but now I get a useless little kid for a teammate! I get Rue._

He and Rue shake hands and he gives her that look, the same one the crowd was graced with, minus the fear. It chills her to the bone. They've barely spoken before and already he's decided to hate her. She can't devote too much thought to it though, as they are herded off the stage and towards a long silver train. She'd always thought it awful that the tributes from her district never got to say goodbye to their families after what happened a few years ago when one tribute's brother brought a gun which the boy hid and used in an escape attempt. He ended up being shot himself but not without taking a few guards down with him.

Rue finds a friend in the onlookers and yells to her to keep Rue's family safe and send them her love. The friend shouts back an assent.

With only seconds before the Peacekeepers would force her on the train, she twines her thumbs and gives the crowd her bird signal. A few people return it.

oOo

_**Next time: Rue and Thresh have a problem...but it's sort of one-sided.**_

**oOo**

**First chapter! Woot! Things may start off slow, but trust me it will get pretty epic later on. **

**So tell me what you think. Updates will go a lot faster if I get more feedback, just saying. **

**Love,**

**earth warrior**


	2. Chapter 2

The train ride is long, boring and utterly torturous. Rue can't stand thinking about what's going to happen to her, to her family in her absence, and even to Thresh, but she's not too worried about him. He'll be okay; he's quite capable of taking care of himself.

Thresh doesn't talk to her much. They pass each other in the hallways, and she might attempt a conversation, but he just gives one word answers, shrugs, and silence for her efforts. She wants so much to just stop trying but won't let herself alienate the only person who could be of use in the arena. So, despite the hopelessness of the situation, when she sees Thresh one morning sitting on the bed in his room with the door open- a rare sight in itself- she says, "Good morning."

He stops staring into space for a moment to nod in her direction. "Hi." Then he continues ignoring her as usual, but this time she won't let him get away with it.

"Thresh," she sits cross-legged on the ugly blue carpet at his feet. "Are you scared? About the Games, I mean." She asks. This may be one of the few times that they can talk without at least a dozen cameras trained on them.

He raises an eyebrow in slight shock though otherwise gives no reaction. "No." It's even half true. He's not afraid of the other tributes per se, just what happens before the actual Games; the people mostly. He's not exactly thrilled about the thought of dying a horrible death, but that pales in comparison to his fear of large crowds staring at him. Besides, its none of Rue's business how he feels about this. Why is she so interested? It's not like it would benefit her to know all this; she wouldn't kill him would she? No way, they're teammates, not enemies in this Game. Rue is a lot of things and stupid isn't one of them; the whole District will hate her if she harms him, just as they'll hate Thresh if he doesn't make at least some attempt to keep her alive.

"I wish I could say I wasn't scared of the Games, but I am afraid to die." She pauses then says, "You know, I didn't see you much back home. You always kept to yourself. Why didn't you ever talk to people?"

He shrugs, looking down. If he were planning to tell the truth he'd say that it was mostly because he was too shy to speak, too afraid of what others would think of him. However in this case being honest meant that he was also showing way too much weakness to someone he barely knows, so he opts to go a different route. "I don't much like other people."

Rue bites her thumbnail thoughtfully. "I don't believe you Thresh. You're not the terrible person that everyone thinks you are- that you want them to believe you are." She waits to see if he'll try to deny it, but he doesn't, just pretends to ignore her. "I know this may sound silly, but I could be your friend if you wanted."

He honestly never thought she'd say that; they're in the middle of a life-or-death situation and she wants to be friends? True, it's not nearly such a dangerous proposition as it would have been if this weren't a partner Game, but still. Part of him wants to take her up on the offer, but the other part tells him it's best if he keeps a safe distance from the child at least till he figures some things out. "No. I don't think so." He says.

Hurt is plain in her eyes, and he feels seriously guilty, but he doesn't let it show. She stands, saying, "I'll see you later then." She spares one last glance at him before leaving and closing the door behind her.

Once she's gone, Thresh is left alone with his thoughts.

How is this possible? How can such a little kid be such a huge cause of grief? He can't kill her, can't harm her; even if the they weren't on the same team, he knows he wouldn't be able to anyway. She's so genuine, so kind to him when it would be so much less painful if she had stabbed him in the chest. She'll never survive the Games. He knows it and she probably does too. She can't do nothing worth anything for the Games, which grates on his nerves like nails on a chalkboard. She'll be worthless as a partner and seriously jeopardize his chances of winning. But here's the problem: no one ever showed him kindness before now; she was the first to even attempt it. Now he's going to have to live with her, most certainly watch her die and end up six feet under himself!

Not if he can help it. He'll have to disassociate from her as much as possible. It wouldn't be too hard; she's so young and useless it would be easy to turn his irritation into hatred. But she just has to be so…so…_nice _to him! He wishes he could force himself hate her or at least remain indifferent but it's hard and it irks him. It makes him want to hurt something, someone, but not her. _So do you hate Ru- her… _(he won't let himself think the girl's name) …_or don't you? _No, he concludes. He doesn't despise her no matter how much he'd love to, but he can act like he does. _I cannot, will not kill her, but I can make every second she's with me such a living hell before the Games, she'll have no choice but to compete separately of her own free will later. Then I don't have to worry about what the District people think when she's killed and I'm not around to save her. _It couldn't be more perfect.

oOo

For the next three days, Rue finds odd things happening to her with almost no explanation. One morning before breakfast, Rue somehow falls into the supply closet and ends up locked in for eight hours until Hugo hears her late in the afternoon.

"Having fun in there sweetie?" He asks, mildly amused. She stalks out of the closet, blood boiling. "Okay, what happened?" Hugo honestly couldn't care less, except that he's technically responsible for her and can't afford to have her go missing for so long.

"I tripped, the door closed on me." she answers.

Hugo smirks, "Sweetie, the door is too heavy to close on its own, and a wire was elaborately tied around the handle and attached to the door frame. Someone from outside did this." Thresh. There was no other option. He'd been a jerk to her before, now he was trying to make her an enemy for some reason. Great, just great.

The next day, Thresh comes in her room. Rue continues her doodles on the back of Hugo's itinerary with a charcoal pencil. In the back of her mind she wonders what Hugo will say once he's seen the mess she's made of his papers, but she couldn't find anything else to draw on. Thresh knocks on the door frame. She stops in the middle of a stroke on her sister Gin's hair. She puts down her pencil and turns her paper over. "Yes?" she asks curtly.

He's fidgeting with his hands behind his back, shoes scuffing the carpet carefully, but his black eyes have a hardened edge to them. "I uh, just wanted to give you this. It's a gift.."

Rue hides her disbelief at such an out of character move. He steps forward and holds a small cardboard package out to her. The words 'for rue' are scribbled in marker on the lid. "Uh, thanks." She takes it. Before she can add anything else, he's gone.

Okay, this is weird. Thresh so isn't the type to be doing this. But he wouldn't give her anything dangerous. Despite herself, Rue is simply dying to find out what he'd given her. It's just like that woman from Greek mythology she heard about in school, Pandora. Pandora opened a box and all the evils of the world were set free to wreak havoc. Oh well, if we're basing this on some old Greek stories, better follow through on them right?

She lifts the lid and screams. Without thinking, she closes it and chucks the box across the hall so that it hits a wall. The contents spill out. Rue slams the door shut so she won't have to look at it anymore. Her chest heaving, she leans back on the locked door, brings her knees to her chest and sobs quietly. As hard as she tries, she can't picture anything else but Thresh's cruel joke: a note that read _heard you liked birds_ tied around the neck of a dead, bloody mockingjay.

Thresh winces when he hears her scream, then the box flies across the hall and it makes his stomach churn just to look at the dead bird. The poor thing. Thresh had found it rotting outside the District 3 train station. He couldn't bear to kill one himself, which just added to his irritation. He silently pads down the hall and puts an ear to her door. She's crying, soft as if is, and despite how she is clearly attempting to hide it. It hurt Thresh that he's the cause of her misery, but he isn't about to admit this. _She'll get over it. It was just some dumb bird _he thought.

Thresh turns and heads back the way he came and has almost made it back to his room when he hears a voice, "Okay, I give up. What's going on?" Hugo of course. The man just had to choose the exact wrong moment to show up.

"Nothing. What do you mean?" Thresh asks, in what he hopes is an innocent tone. Hugo doesn't buy it, not that Thresh honestly thought he would.

Hugo crosses his arms in that no-nonsense way of his, "Oh, stop playing dumb, kid. You know exactly what I'm talking about." Thresh just continues his wide eyed confused look that he knows isn't getting him anywhere but that he would keep up for Hugo's sake. "I know it was you who pulled that little supply closet stunt yesterday; it wasn't exactly inconspicuous. And now whatever the girl's crying about now is surely of your doing. Now I could care less about District 11 but since when is she your enemy? Maybe you missed the memo about the whole partner's competition thing you're in this year. But once you're in that arena, she's the only person you can trust, and you're just messing with her! Why? Are you _stupid_ or something? Did I get a _retard_ this year?"

Thresh is stunned into silence. Hugo knows it too. Who does this guy think he is, telling Thresh what he should and shouldn't do? Last time he checked, Hugo was just there to be sure his charges didn't make total idiots of themselves on camera before the Games. This is _so_ none of his business! He then told Hugo as much.

"So you have a suicide wish? I can make your life hell in there if you want, but I'd rather not. Just tell me what the heck you're up to."

It's a threat, clear as day, but for once nothing can be done about it. Thresh can't fight him, and he can't tell anyone about it. So instead he does one of the best things he ever has- he lets it go. "Fine. Rue," he notes how unfamiliar the word sounds on his tongue. It's been days since he's thought her name, "is a little kid. Worse, she's a doomed, useless kid. I'm screwed back in my District if I don't make an attempt to keep her alive- seriously, how bad would it look if a 12 year old girl was slaughtered, and her teammate whose three years older and twice her size did nothing?"

Hugo seems to catch on from here. "So you don't want that responsibility, and you're gonna make her hate you so she'll leave and you won't have to be the bad guy."

"Yeah. Basically."

The man's responding 'hmmm' is almost sympathetic. He bites his nail, studying Thresh. "Well, I agree, you're in a bad position. But that," he pointed back to Rue's door, "Is not the way to handle it. Here's a question: are you sure she's useless because you knew her so well back in the District, or because you just assumed she would be?"

Thresh considers it. Sure, he and Rue were far from being best friends, but he had seen her on a regular basis, and talked to her occasionally as well. But no, he supposes he doesn't know her enough to make this judgment. However, she's just so young and small, he can't see how she would be anything but a burden. Hugo nods, the answer made known without a word on Thresh's part. "Exactly. Why don't you give her a chance? You'll see in a few days whether you were right or not. Because when there's one person you have to rely on, you better be careful not to underestimate them."

oOo

_**Next time: Thresh's phobia gets the better of him. This will not end well...**_

**oOo**

**End of chapter 2. It's such a shame though that no one will give a review or anything (hint hint). Oh, to heck with hints! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I'll...uh...give you a cupcake :P There's nothing better than a good oldfashioned invisible cupcake!**

**Yep, so see I'll ya later peoples.**

**Love,**

**earth warroir**


	3. Chapter 3

Thresh decides to keep in mind his little talk with Hugo, but things with him and Rue remain the same as ever. They don't speak until even after they've arrived in the Capitol and Hugo doesn't comment further on their behavior. They find out that Hugo will be doubling as their mentor due to some complications and the only District 11 victor currently in the hospital for injuries sustained during a bar fight. So Thresh doesn't have to so much as look at her until the night of the opening ceremonies. Their District's theme is agriculture so they're both dressed in the most ridiculous tree costumes complete with fake bark and leaves glued to the arms.

Rue wants to laugh and cry at the same time when she sees it because she knows now more than ever that they don't stand a chance. She does neither, so as not to hurt the stylist's feelings. When he asks if she likes it Rue just replies, "It's very realistic." It's a lie of course. She looks no more like a tree than two of the other tributes look like cows in the equally silly getup they've been forced into.

Thresh steps up on the chariot, with Rue following close behind. The horses take off, and they roll into the packed City Circle. Thresh tenses the second the crowds come into view. Uh-oh. "I- I didn't th-think there'd be so…so many…people…" he stutters out. Rue turns to him. He hasn't spoken to her in days and so why all of a sudden? Then it hits her; the way he'd acted on Reaping Day, and now he looks about ready to panic- hands shaking, sweating, pupils dilated to pinpricks- she sees clearly his phobia. He's afraid of crowds! No wonder he'd been so edgy on stage at Reaping Day. Now with all these people he was sure to panic. As much as she hates to admit it, she really should help him. Yes, he's a jerk, we've established that, but he's also her teammate and she'll never get any sponsors if he messes it up.

Thresh hisses profanities as if that would make the crowd disappear. Why does this have to happen now? Why couldn't he just get over it? Uhg, stupid, stupid, stupid! Maybe Rue isn't the useless one around here! _Ugh! _

But he can't ignore they're wicked gazes. Everyone's there

and he can feel their eyes on him, trying to find chinks in his paper-thin armor

and they'll tear him apart, bit by bit

and there's nothing he can do about it-

A voice manages to pierce his rushing thoughts. He focuses on it, letting it begin to make sense, form words that mean something. "Thresh. Thresh." It's Rue. He tries to make his voice respond but it's a lost cause. "Look at me Thresh." He just blinks hard and turns to her. For being so small and young, she sounds so old. "Please think about this now. The people aren't going to hurt you. You know that right?"

"No." He answers honestly.

"Just pretend they don't exist."

"Can't." He whispers. But he tries anyway. He watches Rue instead to distract himself, then the other tributes. They're all absurdly dressed except for the ones in District 12 who admittedly have amazing costumes. He assumes they're supposed to be on fire; kudos to whoever came up with that one. Thresh sees the District 4 tributes dressed like fish and has to put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. Okay, that settles it- his tree suit pales in comparison to the ridiculousness of _that_ one. Now, if he can just keep up the topic-jumping in his head for one more minute they'll be out of there and he'll be home-free!

Let's see, there's the lights overhead in startling shades of purple, pink and green. One is yellow and for a split second as it hits Rue her eyes look like little pools of liquid gold. The announcer calls out District 11 and the crowd cheers. Thresh grits his teeth, not bothering to smile at them as Rue does sweetly, giving a wave.

The second their chariot pulls out of sight, Thresh jumps off as the horses slow to a trot. He says nothing to her but runs to the door marked 11 as fast as he can, with all the tributes glancing his way as he passes.

Rue frowns as she steps off the chariot. What is going on here? She picks up the pace to a jog and enters the same door she just saw Thresh enter. "Thresh?" She calls.

There's no answer.

The room isn't terribly big, but it isn't small either. There's a couch pressed up against the right wall, a door to what she assumes is probably the bathroom on the right, and turning around she finds a note in what she could only guess was typing. She's never actually held a typed letter before. Rue peels the letter off the wall along with nearly a roll of tape. It says, _Rue and Thresh, It's Hugo. I'll be there as soon as they let us, which should be in about an hour or so. _

Which means she has some time to kill. But where is her irritating, antisocial and all around confusing teammate? Then she notices a third door, next to the couch. She approaches it slowly, and presses her ear to it to see if she could hear anything. _Snap! _It sounds like a bone breaking. She twists the handle, to find that it opens easily.

There, sitting at a desk, with half a broken pencil in one hand, clutching the table-top with the other is Thresh. For a minute he doesn't even realize she's there. He's scribbling on some scraps of paper at the speed of light, lead smeared all over the page as well as smudged on his cheek from when he'd wiped the back of his hand on his cheek. Rue barely manages to catch him whispering something, but she can't pick out exactly what he's saying. "Are you okay?"

Instantly, he is snapped out of it. He drops his pencil, and sits bolt upright in the seat as though he'd just been electrocuted. Thresh does a double-take at his scribbles, "What…?" Then shoves them to the ground listlessly, hands shaking even harder than before. Rue steps towards him carefully.

"Are you okay?" She repeats.

He nods. "I'm fine." Yeah right. He glances at the drawings on the ground. They're weird. For some reason he knows he doesn't want to see what's written on them, so he turns away. He doesn't even remember making them. Heck, he doesn't remember any of what happened since the second he got there. And Rue just has to come in doesn't she? This is so shameful, having her see him like this, having some sort of breakdown. "You can leave now." He tries to tell himself its okay though. He'll live. As long as he can still say those two words it doesn't matter what happens. As long as he can still breathe, he's alright. That little maxim had gotten him through 15 years so why not a few more weeks?

Rue pretends not to hear. "You know what I think?" Thresh just sits there, head in his hands, staring at the wall. "I don't think you're afraid of crowds." He tilts his head towards her, a hint of confusion of his face. "I believe you're afraid of people."

He shakes his head. "Huh?"

"Maybe once you can stop fearing individuals, then maybe crowds won't seem so bad. Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about."

"Rue?" He asks. She waits expectantly without responding. He picks up the eraser half of his broken pencil and fidgets with it. "Never mind..."

oOo

Rue doesn't ask him about what happened and he doesn't volunteer any answers. However, when Hugo comes to get them Rue secretly snatches Thresh's papers which he had been planning on leaving to rot. They never would have seen the light of day again if he'd had anything to say about it.

That night in her room she studies them, sitting on her bed with the covers pulled around her shoulders. One of them has the symbol of the Capitol on it, taking up nearly the whole page. There are tiny people under it, who she recognizes as being his family; his younger brothers are staring out in shock, one with an arrow through his chest, the other two with missing limbs, clutching each other to stay upright. His father is bleeding profusely from the head with what she can only assume is from a bullet wound while his mother is being burned alive, screaming. The word 'Endgame' is scratched across the whole picture.

Rue shudders at his gruesome accuracy and moves on. The next one is more simple. It's mostly black smears, but if she squints and tilts the paper to a left slant she can make out a shape in the gloomy background. It's an oval…no a half oval… a tombstone. The words 'Thresh Rainer 2113 to 2128' are written on it in Thresh's own chicken-scratch handwriting.

She stares at that one a little longer. Despite the morbid subject matter, Thresh is a pretty good artist- maybe even better than Rue's sister Tawny who fancies herself the best freehand artist in all of Panem (Rue never bothered to point out that Tawny had never even seen the work of anyone outside District 11).

Checking the clock Rue finds with a slight shock that she is supposed to be down for dinner in twenty minutes. She flips to the third and final drawing.

At first she doesn't know what she's looking at. Then slowly, the lines begin to form a picture- hair, eyes, clothes. It's a group of young people, eleven of them actually, surrounding a smaller figure in the center and beating the person with assorted weapons- knives, tree branches, swords. Rue knows she's seen the people before somewhere, but where? That's when she sees with horror the little numbers adorning the outfits of everyone shown. Its everyone from the games- no, not everyone, just one per district. Marvel from 1, Cato from 2, the fox faced girl from 5, Katniss from 12, all there. How exactly Thresh managed to get down their appearances so perfectly after having seen them all only one or two times at most was beyond her. So then who's the one in the middle? Rue leans in close to see, right there on the girl's bloody armband, an '11'.

Its…_her_! They're killing her. Is that what Thresh wants? Her demise? But that can't be it. The other pictures imply (or outright show) the deaths of himself or of other people he cares about. Those he fear would soon be gone. So does that mean he fears her dying? That would mean he'd have to care about her for two seconds, which he'd never do. Hmmm, it might be someone else from District 11, but it looks so much like her. The same wavy dark hair and thin fragile limbs.

She's afraid there's no escaping it. Thresh has drawn her very graphic death. Rue stands, and lets the warm cotton blankets fall to her ankles. She hides the papers in the chestnut drawer by the bed.

_I really, really hope you're wrong Thresh._

oOo

_**Next time: Thresh makes a new friend. NOT.**_

******oOo**

**And here's chapter three. Pathetic, I know. But I hope I'm keeping everyone in character. If there are any questions, comments, concerns, or even complaints, just tell me. Flames are totally welcome; at least it lets me know that someone's reading. Though, if you do decide to call my story a piece of crud I'd sort of like to know why.**

**Love,**

**earth warrior**


	4. Chapter 4

The day after Thresh's near-incident at the Opening Ceremonies, Rue wakes up downright exhausted. She doesn't remember her dream much but she suspects it has something to do with his pictures. Great, more things to worry about. Not that his depiction of the Games is in any way accurate; he forgot the part where the tributes slice each other up while the Capitol laughs about it.

Rue remembers it's the first day of training, and groans, pressing the pillow into her face. She knows it will be invaluable to see what the other tributes are capable of, but she also knows that aside from speed and her tree climbing, she has largely nothing to offer. No, that's not true. She's good at recognizing poisonous plants from non-poisonous ones and that has to count for something. And if she set her mind to it, she could probably figure out how to set a rabbit trap, but killing the rabbit would be another matter entirely. Well, she'd just have to get Thresh to do that part; if he did, she would even cook it when the job was done.

That is, if Thresh was planning to stick with her. If he wasn't, she would manage. It's not like there were a lot of other options.

With that less-than-encouraging thought, she throws off the covers of her warm blanket and winces as all the heat which had been accumulated over night disappears in a second. She pushes herself up and steps down, nearly falling after she fails to remember that the Capitol beds with all their three mattresses are so much higher up than the simple, flat roll-up cots she sleeps on at home. Rue makes her way to the bathroom and does a double-take at the mirror. _So…this is what I look like._ Like most people from her District, looks aren't exactly high on her priorities list. She's seen herself before of course, but it's been a while, maybe even as long as a year or two.

She decides she looks surprisingly young. If she didn't know better, she wouldn't believe she was even twelve. Her hair is long- almost to her waist because she's only had it cut once before, and it desperately needs another trimming. Rue likes her eyes. She has her mother's gold eyes. She doesn't like how small she is though. Maybe if she was bigger, Thresh wouldn't act like she was a curse. But then she sets her face in firm resignation. No, if he wants to act all sullen and hostile then he can go right ahead; it's none of her business. If he doesn't want her as a partner, then fine; she'll be okay on her own. If he's going to judge her based on physical characteristics rather than evidence, which is likely what's going through his mind, then he has that right. She's just not going to stick around like some lost puppy while he tries to figure her out.

After getting ready she eats a silent breakfast across from Mr. Hostility himself, who clearly didn't get any sleep last night. He hunches over his cereal avoiding her gaze as if she were Medusa.

"Training today." Hugo says, coffee mug in one hand, newspaper in the other. Suddenly it occurs to Rue that Hugo looks…normal. Normal, meaning no silly Capitol clothes, or artificial skin pigmenting, or colored contacts. She'd never noticed it before, but now it seems blatantly obvious.

Ignoring his previous statement she asks, "Hugo, you're from the Capitol, right?"

He mutters, 'unfortunately' under his breath then answers with forced civility, "Yes, of course I am."

"Then why don't you dye your hair weird colors or wear ugly suits that look like they were thrown up on by a multi-colored unicorn?" She's sure she could be punished severely for saying it but it doesn't matter much. She's going into the Games, what disciplinary action could be better than that?

Surprisingly though, Hugo bursts out laughing. She's sure she's never seen him so much as give a non-sarcastic smile, let alone laugh. She notices Thresh try to suppress a smile, but fail, so he just hides it with a hand over his mouth. After a full minute of laughter, Hugo manages to pull himself together. "Would you go along with those ridiculous fashion trends, kid?" Smiling at the thought, she shakes her head. "Yeah, well me neither. I'm not into looking like a walking set of those silly pre-Rebellion 'My Little Pony' dolls. A guy's gotta have some dignity."

Rue puts her elbows on the table and leans forward, "What do you mean? I thought these things were dignified in the Capitol."

He sighs and leans back further in his chair, as Rue vaguely wonders how far he can go before it falls over. Hugo clearly isn't in the mood to explain all this to a kid. "You're too young to get it," He dismisses. He waves her inquiries away with one hand and spills coffee on his leisure suit in the process.

"I'm not getting any older."

He eyes her warily. "Regardless, training's today. Check out all the stations, and pay close attention to the more survival-oriented ones, since those will be the most helpful. And though I don't recommend forming alliances so soon, making conversation wouldn't be a bad start for figuring out where you stand. The important thing is to gain information, from the instructors or even from the other tributes if you can." He pauses to glance at Thresh. "And as for you, who we've pretty much established is never winning any personality awards, just try not to make too many enemies. But if you do make enemies, just be sure it's with the right people. Above all, don't screw this up, okay kids?"

oOo

They step through the front doors of a building- one larger than all the ones from District 11 combined- and are greeted by the Sign-in Squad as Thresh mentally dubs them. They're a group of three peppy Capitol women who he truly believes have never been apart for more than a second since the day they were born. They have the same bright pink hair, the same dresses of the same color and have a tendency to complete each other's sentences. In other words, they're the exact type of people Thresh can't stand.

"Hi!" One of them screeches.

"We're here to-" Another starts.

"-Help you sign in!" The third finishes. Their high-pitched girly voices make him thankful that girls in his District wouldn't be caught dead acting like these bimbos. He takes a pen and scribbles his signature on the line next to his district number, then hands the pen to Rue. She quickly does the same, while the Sign-in Squad giggles about some new piece of gossip. "Ugh, gag me." He mutters.

Rue giggles, but it's not in the way that makes him want to tear out his hair. "You're not kidding," she agrees.

"Here are-"

"-Your nametags!" And they're handed lanyards, each with card attached bearing the tribute's thumbnail size photo, their name, and their district number in red. Rue's lanyard is pink while Thresh's is blue, as if the people needed a color-coding system to tell which one is the girl and which is the boy. Thresh is about to send his name tag into the nearest trash can, but the stare Hugo gives him is enough to convince him to put it on. Pick your battles.

"I'll come back to pick you up in a few hours." Hugo says before he leaves, but it's not hard to hear the unspoken end to the sentence. _So don't screw up too much while I'm gone._ As far as Hugo's concerned, those two are a lost cause.

When the doors to the training center open, Rue just stands there with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. "Wow…" Thresh has been too busy trying to figure out how to inconspicuously ditch the name tag, but when he hears the childish wonder in her voice, he puts the issue out of his mind temporarily, and looks up.

"Wow…" He echoes. The room is huge for one thing- at least one thousand feet wide, two thousand feet long, and thirty feet tall. But what's truly amazing is all the equipment they have. There's an archery shooting range, complete with cloth dummies hanging from poles lined up along the wall. There's knife/spear/javelin throwing too, next to the archery station, and beside that is the gymnastics equipment. For the gymnastics station they have everything from the bars to the balance beam to those swinging trapeze bars you'd see in the circus (back when circus's existed).

Next are the less popular stations like camouflage, plants, and knot-tying. He's sure he'll eventually end up at those stations, but learning to use a few weapons would be a good start. In District 11 weapons are mostly banned for anyone who's not a Peacekeeper, so he's never gotten a bit of practice.

For a second it almost makes him wish he'd grown up in a Career district, but he's quickly disgusted by the thought. _I may look like a Career, but you'll sure never see me acting like one. _If and when he kills, he promises to do it quickly and humanely, not like those sickening torture sessions the Careers have been known to inflict on fellow tributes. He could never even consider subjecting his worst enemy to that sort of end. Thresh catches his district partner watching him expectantly. "What?"

"Are we doing this together, or separately?"

He's unsure of what to say since she's left the decision completely up to him. He remembers what Hugo said, about not underestimating her, and comes to the conclusion that he might as well see what she can do. "Together, if that's alright with you."

Shock crosses her face, but is immediately suppressed. "No, it's fine." She scans the stations once more. "Hey, they have weight lifting. Bet you'd be great at that." He shrugs and they head over to it.

Thresh knows he's strong- his size sure doesn't come from fat, that's for sure. He's just never had a way to measure how strong he actually is. He walks over to one of the shelves and picks up a thirty pound weight. It's not too heavy, so he tries a fifty, then an eighty. Rue, meanwhile, braces herself with feet shoulder length apart and reaches down to lift the fifty pound weight. It refuses to budge from the ground, so after a few failed attempts she gives up and sits on the floor to watch Thresh. He manages to bench press three hundred before he deems it best not to continue.

The instructor seems impressed by Thresh's work. He shows the District 11 pair how to do a difficult exercise which he calls a push-up. Rue can only do a few before her arms start burning. Thresh does several then gets Rue to sit on his back to make it harder. After ten more he says, "Put all your weight on."

"I am. See?" She presses the heels of her boots into his back. _Wow, she's light_, he can't help but think. _Probably because she's so small. _At one point he catches the tributes from District 2 watching, but since they don't attempt to speak to him or Rue, he pretends not to notice their presence. After forty seven push-ups his arms give out and Rue topples over backwards, laughing despite herself. "A little heads-up wouldn't kill you, ya know!" She says with mock indignation.

He laughs as well retorting, "Well maybe you should have been paying attention." Rue sits up and at once realizes she's supposed to be mad at him. At the same time he remembers that he should be trying to separate himself from her rather than befriend her, and a long awkward silence hangs in the air.

"Uh, let's head to the next station."

They don't speak a word during their weapons lesson. Thresh finds he's pretty good with a javelin, and makes a mental note to try to get his hands on one during the Games. He's surprised to see Rue handle a smaller knife well for someone who's never picked one up before. She's also excellent with a slingshot, but he suspects she picked up that skill back home. Either way, she's beginning to cast doubts on his previous notions that she was a good-for-nothing little kid; but he's not jumping to any conclusions (well, no more than he already has).

After spending two hours at the weapons station, Rue can't stand it anymore so she drags Thresh to the gymnastics equipment which she's been dying to try out. With a huge smile on her face, she races over to the bars but unfortunately they're eight feet off the ground and altogether inaccessible. She considers asking for help, but refuses to show weakness. This is her element; she'll find a way.

She climbs up the poles themselves which hold up the bar, and grabs the wood once she's close enough. Rue then lets go of the metal pole with her legs and hangs from the bar, feeling a sense of satisfaction of being able to do this completely on her own. Pulling herself up, she stands carefully. Sure of her movements now, she surveys the Training Center. A few of the tributes are glancing her way, probably betting on how long she could keep up without falling and snapping her neck. The Sign-in Squad is on break, and is curling each others hair with a contraption she's never seen anything like. She spies the next bar a few feet away and smiles; this is going to be fun.

Rue launches herself at it, arms outstretched. Having judged the distance perfectly she catches the bar and uses the momentum to flip over twice. On the third time she stops by planting her foot on the bar like a break, and standing. She nearly looses her balance, but she puts her hand down until she's steady.

Okay, that was easy. Next she turns back around to face the first bar, jumps out to catch it and flips over once, then at the perfect second she lets go with her legs pointed at and angle to the second bar. She somehow catches it with the backs of her knees and hangs upside down. She stays like that for a few seconds to make sure she doesn't get dizzy before maneuvering herself right back onto the bar. Wow, who knew the Capitol's equipment could be so much fun?

From the ground Thresh watches in amazement. He's seen her before attempting stunts in the trees when she thought no one was watching, but he'd never witnessed anything like this. Though he knows her acrobatics won't help much in the Games, she can handle herself in the trees even better than he thought which could be good for finding food. He sure can't climb near as high as she would be able to. He'll still have to be careful, but maybe being partners with Rue isn't such a bad thing after all.

But something is wrong. He can't quite pin it down, but for some reason it makes him sort of nervous to see her doing dangerous moves like she is now. Why though? Why would he possibly be anxious watching her; he's not the one dangling ten feet above the ground and one slip-up away from snapping his neck.

For a split second it looks as if Rue might just do this. While switching bars again she misjudges the distance and her fingers just barely scrape the wood. He sees her plummet and stops breathing. _Oh no! Not her, not now…_ But then she twists in midair suddenly so that her legs are underneath her instead of behind her and she lands lightly, crouched on the balls of her feet. Thresh, letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, can't help but equate her movements to a cat's.

_I thought she might have gotten hurt. Thank God Rue's okay. _Then he stops himself. Wait, why does it matter to him if she gets hurt? If anything that would be good for him. His District would be more likely to accept his resignation as her teammate if she was crippled; they'd understand that he just couldn't handle that kind of liability. So what's the problem?

What if…? No, that _can't_ be it. If it's true it will be his undoing. But maybe…just maybe…her wellbeing matters because…because he cares.

Ugh! This is awful! He's finally starting to figure things out and now this happens. He just _has_ to go and start _caring_ about the kid. Why can't he just remain indifferent? - It'll keep him alive a lot longer when it comes down to the Games.

On the other hand…maybe he should just forget about the whole thing. Because honestly does it really matter if he doesn't want her to die? Yeah its probably not the best idea, but he has enough to worry about at the moment then to be fretting over petty feelings of 'caring'. Besides there is one surefire way to sort everything out…just not yet.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spots the Careers. They're arguing over something and the District 2 boy yells at them. The others fall into a brooding silence, except for the girl from 2 who apparently agrees with her teammate. The boy begins to walk in his direction. Thresh's breath catches. Great; dealing with the Careers is the last thing he needs right now.

"Hi, I'm Cato." The kid announces, holding out his hand. Thresh just stares at Cato's hand then back at him.

"Thresh." He says. Cato seems to get it and puts his hand down, probably thinking that a District 11 savage couldn't be expected to understand how to be civil.

Cato appraises him silently before pointing to Rue. She's moved onto the balance beam and is attempting a back-handspring. "She's tiny isn't she?" he comments. Thresh says nothing and tries to make it look like he's not even listening, but the District 2 kid knows better. "How can so much uselessness be compacted into such a small body? I mean just look at her, she can't do anything!"

"I don't think so." Cato's exact words may have crossed his mind at least a dozen times, but he's not about to admit that to a Career (or anyone else, for that matter.) "Look, what's your point?" If Cato's got three brain cells, he'll drop the subject and leave.

Apparently, he is not in possession of three brain cells because he continues, "I'm here to make you a proposition. It's simple: ditch the kid and join us. You could have a shot at winning as soon as you drop that dead weight of a partner."

Thresh considers it for all of negative 1.57 seconds before saying, "No. Now please leave." Yeah right. As if he would ever even think about joining the dark side- not a chance. He'd partner up with Rue before those bloodthirsty thugs any day. Thresh receives the death glare of a lifetime Cato. Clearly he's given the wrong answer.

"You don't honestly think you can just mess with us and expect to survive as much as one day in the arena, do you?"

Thresh looked him straight in the eyes, took a deep breath and said, "First of all, I never messed with any of you. You're the one who refuses to drop the subject. And besides," He leans in closer, "I'd never team up with low-lives like you anyway. 'A guy's gotta have some dignity'," he quoted Hugo's words from this morning.

That's when Cato gives him this…look. It's an expression of pure unadulterated rage focused directly at him. It's an expression you'd get right before the person stabbed you in the face. "Fine. Have it your way." Cato backs up slowly but that look is still there and the message is clear. _This isn't over…_

oOo

_**Next time: Thresh tries to figure things out in an **_**odd**_** way.**_

**oOo**

Three things.

First, this is just an up-front warning. If you would consider yourself to be, like, I don't know...Cato's biggest fan for example, you might want to turn back now. Seriously. You will not like him by the end of this story. However, if you consider yourself to be Rue and/or Thresh's biggest fan then please proceed!

Second, this will have **no** Rue/Thresh romance. I suppose if you wanted to see it in that way you could, but that's not what was intended. Things will become more clear later on, but for the record they will remain friends only.

Third... YAY! First review! Now I finally have a review to respond to! WOoT!

To Deesta: Thank you so much! I'm really glad you like it so far. And you'll have to keep reading for the last answer cuz I don't want to ruin the story for you or anyone else. Let's just say that things will certainly get _interesting_. :D

Love,

earth warrior


	5. Chapter 5

**Important Authors Note!: **I have made some changes to the last chapter. Actually I pretty much only changed one paragraph, but that one paragraph was sorta important. If you're lazy and don't want to reread it to figure out what I changed I'll tell you- I decided not to give Thresh another issue with Rue. He already has enough to angst about (and more to come) and it would just ruin everything if I were to keep it in there, aside from it being pretty much a boring repeat of chapter 2. Okay, you can ignore me now.

oOo

"Uh, Rue?" He says as soon as Cato's out of earshot. He hears footsteps behind him and is certain they belong to her. He turns around to see the girl looking up at him, hands behind her back and confusion etched on her face. "Do you remember what Hugo said to us before we got here?"

She shrugs and glances down, thinking. "Don't screw up?"

He shakes his head. "No, before that." He can practically see the gears in her head turning and just barely smirks.

She looks back up at him. "He just said to get as much information as possible and don't make enemies."

He nods, crossing his arms over his chest. "Thought so. Just checking." She studies him a little while longer before shrugging indifference then gripping the hem of his black shirt sleeve and pulling him towards the next station.

He remembers the addendum to Hugo's statement, but somehow he knows that these Careers wouldn't exactly fit on the list of 'right people' to be angering. Now surely the tributes from 2, and most likely those from 1 and 4 hate his guts. Of course they were all enemies from the beginning, but now they hate him specifically. Oh well. He honestly couldn't care less what some Career thugs think of him. Thresh might even be a little glad that he could irritate these kids so much. Just causing them the least bit of unpleasantness is, well, sort of gratifying. Yeah, he'll have to watch his back from now on, but he's certain Cato isn't stupid enough to try and pick a fight with him before the Games even start.

Thresh never was one for drama, but come on. Cato really should have seen that one coming…

The day after their first training session, the have their appointment with the Gamemakers. They just sit outside in the lobby listening to the Sign-in Squad prattle on about the latest clothes and music, which neither of the District 11 kids find remotely interesting.

"Shoot me, please." Rue mumbles. She's laying down, half her body on the empty District 10 boy's chair, the other half on her own.

Thresh puts his finger to her head like a gun and whispers "Bang," Then turns it on himself. Rue smiles but won't allow herself to laugh. "Wonder what District 10 is doing in there, having tea with the Gamemakers?"

She shakes her head. "Naw, that's District 7's job. They're lumber and medicinal plants," She says brightly before sitting up and bringing her knees up to her chest, not caring that she's dirtying the chair in the process. "Then again, would tea be in the medicinal plants category or the agriculture category?"

"We don't make tea." He answers.

"Yes, but do they use out goods to make it? In District 3 perhaps; the factories? Or maybe it's from the farms of District 5. What exactly do they farm there anyway? Animals or plants or both?" She wonders aloud. He raises an eyebrow as if to say _You're asking the wrong guy._ "Don't you ever wonder what goes on in the other Districts?"

He slides down in his seat till he's nearly at the same height as her. He stares down at his dark grey boots, then at the tiny ones worn by the girl next to him. His eyes then go to her face. "The way I look at it, it doesn't matter what happens, does it?"

She stammers, "N-no… but-"

Thresh cuts her off. "But nothing. You can't change anything anyway. Besides, they're probably a lot like ours except most of them are richer." He hesitates and she can't help but notice how young he looks for a split second; maybe even younger than her. "Why does it even matter?"

"It matters to me." She says indignantly. She sits up straight and fixes her gold eyes on him. Why does he always have to be so aggravating? "Doesn't it even occur to you that District 11 isn't the beginning and end of the world? Neither is the Capitol. I just sometimes wish I could go other places, see other things outside District 11."

He can't say he doesn't understand where she's coming from, because he does. He gets it, how stir-crazy you can get back home. He gets how crowded it is and how little privacy people have, and wanting to just get out. However Thresh just happens to be a realistic kind of person. He's not like Rue. He can see something and say 'I wish things weren't this way' then move on because nothing he does can make a bit of difference. Rue is a dreamer like a only a child can be. He envies her, but at the same time knows that curiosity like hers can be deadly. "Thing is, how do you know that where we come from is as bad as it can get?" Thresh asks, "We may have it great compared to the others."

"Or maybe not." The girl insists. He cocks his head to one side because he can't say either way. Truth is, they can't argue over something which neither of them know anything about. "Thresh?"

"Yes?"

A high pitched voice giggles, "Like, District 11. Good luck!"

The two exchange glances, then stand in unison. Rue can't help but think its weird that they both get to watch each other's sessions, but apparently the Gamemakers thought it didn't matter if your teammate saw what happened because you were on the same side. And anyway, they figure it'll save on time (or at least that's what Hugo says).

They walk slowly to the doors in a manner Rue finds eerily similar to a funeral march. She sighs when they reach the entrance and she is silently elected to open the door. The knob is cold and metal which is fitting, considering. She gives a tug, then a harder one, but the door refuses to budge. Just as Thresh is about to step in, she plants her feet firmly on the carpet and forces it open. Rue turns to stick her tongue out at him so fast he's not even sure he didn't imagine the gesture completely.

The Gamemakers are bored to death by now, it's obvious. "Thresh Rainer is first." One of them, an old woman with glasses is scanning her papers. "Then Rue Birch."

"Good luck." She tells him, though she's not quite sure why.

"You too."

oOo

That night Hugo pulls the couch up in front of the television in the common-room. Rue flutters in a few minutes later and launches herself on the couch. Hugo gets three bottles of water from the fridge and throws one in her direction. The second he tosses behind him, and it's caught by Thresh who had just come in. The boy heads over to the couch where Rue has sprawled out, taking up all the room. He crosses his arms and shifts his weight to one foot. She smiles innocently.

"Fine." He crosses behind the piece of furniture and lifts up the back end, forcing Rue to roll onto the floor with an 'oof!'. Laughing, Thresh launches himself over the back and plants himself right in the center of the long green cushion. Rue glares up at him, but somehow he knows she's not really mad. Feeling slightly guilty, but enjoying her childish reaction, he offered a hand, which she took after a split second of hesitation.

After standing, she grabs a pillow, puts it against Thresh's shoulder, and leans on it. Thresh doesn't mind. He feels so awful about the way he's been acting the past few weeks; not only did he judge her unfairly, but regardless of the circumstances the bird stunt he pulled was simply unacceptable he knows. He's not sure why she hasn't ever brought it up, but he owes her an explanation. But not tonight. "Rue," he says decidedly.

"Hmmm?"

"I know I haven't exactly been very nice to you, and I'm sorry. Truly sorry. You didn't do anything to me- in fact you've been nothing but nice- and the way I acted in response was unforgivable."

"It was indeed." She retorts coldly. How could he? First he acts horribly to her then he attempts to outright _mock_ her by pretending to be sorry? Nope, she's been down that road once before and she's not going back. She continues, "Thresh I'm not stupid. I know what's going on here." Rue faces him, sitting cross-legged, "You finally figured out that you'd jumped to the wrong conclusion . After nearly a week you decided that maybe I'm not the jinx you made me out to be. You're not sorry for what you've done; you're just sorry for being wrong in the first place."

Who knew that the kid could be so perceptive? And so, so true in her statements. Gosh, he really doesn't want to acknowledge her right to say those things. He wants to defend his reasons, but apologies never go well when you try to justify poor behavior to the other person. Truth be told, Thresh is no bad guy; never has been, never wanted to try being one. He never wanted to do those things, he was just scared and angry. He was angry at the Capitol, and at all the other Districts for being just as cowardly as he is. He just found Rue to be a convenient person to focus his rage on.

That's no excuse; it doesn't make anything better, but at least he has in his mind a reason for those actions.

"I'll admit, you're partly correct. In fact, in the beginning I did doubt you. But that's not true anymore, and you're wrong in your assumptions of why I'm apologizing."

"Why then?" She demands. She practically has to look straight up to be able to see his face. He notices a scar running the length of her arm, and can't help but wonder where it came from. She moves to the other end of the couch before he can answer.

He shakes his head, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from her accusing ones. "I don't know."

"Thresh, you know I have nothing to prove."

Fortunately, Hugo plopped down right between them on the couch and turned the television up. "Quiet, kids. Pay attention." On TV they begin reeling off the scores for each tribute, so Rue and Thresh don't have to speak for the next hour, as the commentators give their opinion on each of the scores and how they would affect the outcome of the Games. They even spend a while discussing what a shock it was when the Capitol announced that two tributes from the same District could win. Personally, Thresh thinks it means they are planning something truly terrible for the 75th Hunger Games, and so they want to justify it by saying, 'it's okay because only 22 children died last year instead of 23.'

In the end, Thresh's score is ten, while Rue's is seven. He's sort of shocked at that one. He'd seen her performance and the kid was good; she deserved at least a nine or ten.

But despite how much he tries, he can't get the child's last words out of his head. _I have nothing to prove. _It scares him actually. If you have nothing to prove, then you have nothing to live for right? _He_ has something to prove to everyone in District 11 and the Capitol: he is a survivor. He will win and keep his humanity in the process. And if keeping his humanity means making sure Rue gets out alive too, then so be it. He has something to prove to Rue too. After what happened back at the opening ceremonies he feels like he owes her. He was terrible to her and then she went and saved Thresh from himself. Thing is, he hates owing people, so he'll do whatever it takes to pay her back.

Which brings him back to Rue's words. So is she saying that she has nothing to live for? She has no reason to come home? Then he realizes that that's not what Rue meant at all. In fact she has everything to live for. She has a family of five siblings and a parent. She just refuses to let herself become anybody's statistic. She proves things to herself only, and he gets that. He just hopes that'll be enough. He hopes she'll forgive him too.

On the bright side though at least he knows where he stands.

oOo

_**Next time: With the interviews that night and the Games begining the next day Rue finds herself in a bad mood. However a memory involving her younger siblings makes it perfectly clear what she **_**should**_** do. Stupid conscience...**_

******oOo**

**Yeah, chapter 5! Things will start to heat up very soon, especially in chapter 7 which I can't wait to get started on. Oh, by the way, since I keep forgetting to put a disclaimer in here, I don't own the Hunger Games. If I did Rue and Thresh would have lived. **

**To darkmistresstoff: Thank you! Just let me know if they ever become OOC, but its great that you like them so far. Thresh's character is never gone into very much in the book, but I'd like to think he would be something like this. Idk, but again, thanks! **

**To Lostliveson4eva: Lol! Yeah, it took me forever to come up with it. Actually I think I might have accidentally stolen it from another fanfic I read years ago. I'll have to check up on that. **

**To leahtastic: Gracias! (lol, did I spell that right? No haba espanolo). Really, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! Thanks for your review.**

**All reviewers receive a cookie! **

**Love,**

**earth warrior**


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